Paul Merson told Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports (31/12/21 at 12:50 pm) that Jose Mourinho needs to hand Carlos Vinicius his first Premier League start when Tottenham take on Brighton tonight.
Once again, Tottenham’s treatment room has had a familiar visitor in Harry Kane following his double ankle injury during his side’s defeat against the champions on Thursday night.
Even though Kane was removed from the action at half-time, Mourinho opted against bringing on his summer signing Vinicius and instead opted for Erik Lamela, along with Harry Winks, before Gareth Bale entered the fray later on in the second half.
That’s perhaps a sign that Vinicius will be starting on the bench tonight, but Merson thinks the 25-year-old needs to start.
“Tottenham have to go for it now,” said Merson. “They have to get players on the pitch who are going to score goals.
“If they keep on playing the way they are playing then every game is going to be nil. It’s just as simple as that. They have to keep the other team to nil to get a draw. This is Tottenham and you cannot play like that.
“I think they have to get players on the pitch. They got to play the big lad [Vinícius] up front. I would play him up front because I would use him as a target and then have players to come off him.
“And who is the best runner without the ball in their team? Dele Alli. If you can get Dele Alli doing what he used to do and bombing forward.”
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Heung-Min Son starts as Tottenham’s main striker against Graham Potter’s men and Vinicius gets the Fernando Llorente treatment from Mourinho.
Under Mauricio Pochettino, whenever Kane used to be on the sidelines with an injury, it was Son leading the line with Llorente sat on the bench.
And it seems as though yet another back-up Tottenham striker is going to be warming the bench for long periods because Vinicius has only managed 24 minutes in the league this term.
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